PRESS RELEASE

Srinivasa Mahal, Winner of the 2015 award in the Private (Residential) category. Pic: INTACH INTACH has invited nominations from you for the Second Annual INTACH Heritage Awards, given to Bengaluru's heritage buildings. Citizens can nominate the heritage buildings that they think deserve an award -- the beautiful ones that make you sigh, the charming ones that you think gave Bengaluru its unique charm, the hoary old ones that tell stories of our past. These awards help to showcase Bengaluru's heritage, and to keep heritage in the public eye, so do take a moment to nominate a building! Awards will be given…

Common Purpose, sponsored by Comic Relief, is running an online crowd sourcing challenge to explore how we can increase civic engagement in Bengaluru. The Common Purpose Challenge, which is also running in Manchester, United Kingdom is asking residents of both cities to work together to generate new ideas that will increase civic engagement. The winning ideas will be presented to a distinguished panel led by Academy Award winner David Puttnam, and including Director General of Police, Karnataka, MN Reddi and Trustee of Bangalore Little Theatre, Vijay Padaki. The challenge is hosted online through Crowdicity, an innovative crowd sourcing platform. Residents…

On February 8th, I had the pleasure of watching Beedhi Nataka (street theatre) at Jayanagar 4th Block, performed beautifully by the PG Commerce students of NMKRV College for Women. The team performed at Maiyas, Cool Joint, Ganesh Darshan and the 4th Block bus stand. At first glance, the performance looked like a discourse with nature, which then transformed into an ensemble of natures parade against the atrocities of man.  Snapshots from the street play. Pic: Madhuri SubbaraoSnapshots from the street play. Pic: Madhuri SubbaraoSnapshots from the street play. Pic: Madhuri SubbaraoSnapshots from the street play. Pic: Madhuri Subbarao‹ › $(document).ready(function(){ $('.carousel .carousel-inner .item').first().attr('class', 'active item');});…

Most of our neighbourhoods in Bengaluru are beset with infrastructure issues; issues that need to be fixed to ensure a better quality of life for us. In a city that is as cosmopolitan as ours, the issues are also not the same across the city; they differ from one neighbourhood to the next. Every year, our local government prepares an annual budget for the city, in which, budgets are allocated to all the neighbourhoods (wards). Also, a decision is taken on which issues would be taken up for work in each neighbourhood. So far, it was difficult, maybe even impossible…

“Compost, grow and cook” is the new slogan of Solid Waste Management Round Table (SWMRT). The voluntary organisation from Bengaluru has invited people to take a pledge to keep one week’s wet waste away from the landfills by taking part in Green spot challenge. To be a part of the campaign, all you have to do is simple. Start a green spot in the house premises and compost the wet waste generated at home. A website swachagraha.in was launched on the Republic Day, January 26th, 2016, to share information with people who are interested to take up the initiative. The…

B.PAC is working with Hasiru Mithra (the HSR Layout residents’ initiative) and Syngene on a neighbourhood cleanup drive. This will be a sustained campaign to drive corporate social engagement that brings corporates, neighborhood communities and BBMP together to clean, drive behavioural change and monitor progress. Employees and residents of the neigbourhood work together to beautify their locality and appoint wardens who will keep watch on the neighbourhood to ensure that the cleaned up areas do not relapse into their original state. Cleanup drive on January 30th The 27th main road in HSR Layout is one of the prime roads in the…

Bangalore Political Action Committee (B.PAC) on behalf of the citizens of Bengaluru city had submitted a petition to the Karnatala Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) on November 9th 2015 against BESCOM’s unsafe electrical installations across the city. Prior to this, B.PAC conducted an on-field survey covering 21 locations, identifying more than 200 dangerous electrical installations, awaiting major tragedies to happen. The pictures submitted were self-explanatory that none of these installations fulfilled the safety norms recommended by the Central Electricity Authority. Pics: B.PAC B.PAC requested the commission to direct BESCOM to replace all dangerous installations in public access areas on priority. The…

Tinsheds at the EWS quarters in Ejipura were razed to the ground in January 2013. Pic: Karthik Ranganathan The Karnataka Slum Janara Sanghatanegala Okkoota has organised a public hearing on the 28th of January. 12 slums from six districts across the state have been identified to highlight the socio-economic and cultural antecedents of slum evictions, and the untold human cost of evictions especially on children, women and the aged.  Date: January 28th 2016 Time: 10 am to 5.30 pm Venue: Gandhi Bhavan, Shivananda Circle Overall, there will be cases of 12 slums, each with a slum profile, the life experience of…

At the launch of the Green and Safe School project. Pic: B.PAC  B.PAC has been working on sustainability and safety issues and is now pioneering the concept of a Green and Safe School model with a holistic vision to create a clean, hygienic, safe environment in government schools that is conducive for learning. A ‘Green and Safe School’ follows a child-centric approach, where schools become a space for positive carbon footprint, free of violence, harassment and abuse. B.PAC in association with Shell MRPL Aviation Fuels & Services Ltd aims to apply the principles of the Green and Safe School to…

A file picture from an earlier edition of Traffic Police Day. Despite the growing vehicular population, Bengaluru is kept on the move thanks to its traffic police. Battling the harsh sun, rain, pollution, the indignant citizen and many civic woes, the service of the Traffic Police goes unnoticed. With the aim of urging young people to recognise their tireless contribution and to empathise with the hardships they face, (Children’s Movement for Civic Awareness) CMCA organises 'Traffic Police Day'. Traffic Police Day is dedicated to thanking one of the city’s unacclaimed heroes – the traffic police. 2016 marks the 11th annual celebration…